...And Then What Happened?

(First off, happy 2018, everyone!)

So far, my resolution of reading twenty-two books this year is going well. I’m already on my second book, and it’s only the middle of January. (I’m hoping I’m not jinxing myself now.)

But sometime in the last day or so, as I was reading Book #2, I set the novel down on my lap and thought to myself, “Why am I reading this?”

I was not trying to be profound or anything. I just thought that the book’s writing wasn’t very good – average, really – and I was curious about why I still continued to read it. I mean, I have a whole stack of other books to pick up and read instead. My time is a valuable resource, yet I was deliberately powering through this rather lengthy book.

It’s a pretty easy read, though, so it’s not like I’m forcing myself to read a dry book, or like I’m in danger of falling sleeping from boredom as I’m reading it.

Mainly, I want to blame my disinterest of the novel on the protagonist. It’s written in first-person perspective - which is totally fine - but her internal dialogue is simply too loud. I understand, as people, our thoughts can circle over and over again about one particular thing throughout the day, but I don’t want to actually read about the repetitiveness. Also, I feel like I want to constantly shake some sense in her. I hate using this term, but she’s the closest I can get to describing as an “unlikable”* character to me.

Yet, despite all that, I’m currently 266 pages into the book (which is about halfway through) and I will not entertain the idea of not finishing it. And the sad part about it is that this is a sequel, so I chose to buy this book after reading the lackluster first book. Why?

My conclusion: I just want to see how the story ends. The books may be flawed, but something about the world intrigued me enough to keep pressing on. Cliffhangers also aggravate me, so I will never simply stop reading, because I must know what happens next. I’m also a person who dislikes seeing projects unfinished, so unless I utterly hate the story, I will probably always finish the book.

I know I can’t be the only one who has this problem. My sister has watched at least four shows on Netflix over the years where she honestly can’t explain why she still watched them. Sometimes she gave up after a season or two, but she at least stuck it out through its story arc.

It’s a rather odd phenomenon, isn’t it? We can create a list of reasons on why we dislike a book/movie/tv show/whatever other medium, but we will return to it anyway because we want to see how the story wraps up. The possibility of a cliffhanger is too strong. We must get that closure for the story.

So here I am, reading Book #2, giving the author the chance to tell her fictional world to me. Because despite the annoying protagonist, I need to find out how she fared in the end. Did she succeed in her overarching issue or not?

And does this mean that the author is a proper storyteller, because she managed to convince me to continue reading her books – even if I don’t consider it special enough to recommend it to other people?



*I don’t like describing any character as “unlikable” because I think it’s the wrong way to approach a character. Just because you don’t share similar qualities in life with a (usually fictitious) character, it doesn’t mean you can dismiss them. Surely there must be something about them that you can relate to, or at least learn more about as a possible person in the world.